front vs stray

front

noun
  • An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself. 

  • An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact. 

  • A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army. 

  • A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth). 

  • The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves. 

  • A seafront or coastal promenade. 

  • A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group. 

  • The beginning. 

  • A field of activity. 

  • The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank. 

  • The most conspicuous part. 

  • That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women. 

  • The side of a building with the main entrance. 

  • When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced. 

  • The direction of the enemy. 

  • The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature. 

adj
  • Closest or nearest, of a set of futures contracts which expire at particular times, or of the times they expire; (typically, the front month or front year is the next calender month or year after the current one). 

  • Located at or near the front. 

  • Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel). 

verb
  • To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront. 

  • To provide money or financial assistance in advance to. 

  • To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on). 

  • To appear before. 

  • To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc). 

  • To pronounce with the tongue in a front position. 

  • To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front. 

  • To assume false or disingenuous appearances. 

  • Of an alter in dissociative identity disorder: to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the patient's body. 

  • To act as a front (for); to cover (for). 

  • To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.). 

  • To face, be opposite to. 

stray

noun
  • An act of wandering off or going astray. 

  • An area of common land for use by domestic animals generally. 

  • Any domestic animal that has no enclosure nor proper place and company, but that instead wanders at large or is lost; an estray. 

  • An instance of atmospheric interference. 

  • One who is lost, literally or figuratively. 

verb
  • To wander from company or outside proper limits; to rove or roam at large; to go astray. 

  • To wander from the path of duty or rectitude; to err. 

  • To cause to stray; lead astray. 

  • To wander, as from a direct course; to deviate, or go out of the way. 

adj
  • Having gone astray; strayed; wandering 

  • In the wrong place; misplaced. 

How often have the words front and stray occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )